Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

Anheuser Busch’s Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold launched an initiative called ‘Contract for Change’ to help to help barley farmers transition to organic by paying a premium price for transitional barley.

Bay area startup Perfect Day has unveiled its animal-free cultured ice cream after five years in the making. A 19-year-old tech entrepreneur, Ben Pasternak, has just closed $7 million for his plant-based chicken startup Nuggs led by McCain Foods.

In agriculture news, vertical farming startup Aerofarms has closed a $100 million round to expand its warehouse facilities. Horizons Ventures has led a $50 million funding round for Demetrix for isolating and brewing cannabinoids.

Lastly, a recent hearing held by the FDA aimed to dispel the wellness claims of CBD as some kind of miracle drug.

Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

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Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold launched a new initiative called ‘Contract for Change‘ that supports American barley farmers who want to transition conventional fields to try organic production for the first time.

Over $1.45B was invested across 247 deals in 2018, according to the research in our second annual investment report produced in partnership with Ryan Willams. Check out the report for a deep dive into the investor and investment trends. We also share a complete list of deals and acquisitions.

By tracking how sustainably countries use their agricultural biodiversity—or agrobiodiversity—the Agrobiodiversity Index supports actors within food systems to make better decisions to achieve sustainability and resilience.

Just as school food was getting healthier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is allowing cafeterias to once again serve more sodium, refined grains and sugary, flavored milk. Sweetgreen cofounder Nicolas Jammet thinks kids deserve better.

The agency recently published a consumer update on its website that addresses some of the many claims surrounding this prevalent cannabinoid and attempts to dispel the notion that it is some kind of risk-free miracle drug.

We created this open-source list to increase representation, support and investment in women, women of color & gender-nonconforming innovators in food. Join the list & help us spread the word using #womxninfood

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